


Puppet

by Evergade



Series: Sefikura Week 2021 - English [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Sefikura Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:53:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29020002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evergade/pseuds/Evergade
Summary: At the end of the world, two ennemis are talking.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Series: Sefikura Week 2021 - English [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125470
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Puppet

**Author's Note:**

> Following Day 2 : New Beginnings.

(continuation of Day 2: New Beginnings. This is what happened just after the end, when Sky disappears)  
  
When Cloud opened his eyes, he was no longer in with the new reality that he had spent thirty-seven attempts to build. He was here again. In this place he called 'the End of the World'. It was a desolate earth, a dying sun in the black sky. And not a breath of life roamed the planet. Well, apart from...

"Is that done?"

In front of him was his old enemy. He smiled at Sephiroth.

"Sorry. But this time I won."

Sephiroth grumbled.

''You wish. If I can understand how you do it...''

Cloud laughed.

''What, to travel in time? Ask the Lifestream. Since you’ve tried to destroy or use it over and over again, I doubt it accept. But you can always try.''

Sephiroth frowned.

"I want to see him."

Cloud smiles.

"If you wish. But you will not change what I have done."

Cloud made a gesture of the hand as if he were removing dust from an invisible window and a blurry image appeared. We could see Sephiroth and Cloud talking to Zack, who had just woken up after spending two months in a coma.

''No…''  
Cloud smiled. He made another hand gesture and another image appeared. It was the interior of the Seventh Heaven, Tifa's bar, where the TV talked about the shutdown of the Mako reactors, following the premature death of the President. There was an ad at the bottom of the screen saying: _Still no news of Professor Hojo_. They saw Barret, Jesse, Wedge, Biggs, Zack, Aerith, Cloud and Sephiroth toast.

'No!'  
Cloud smiled and changed the picture once again. It was the porch of a house where Cloud and Sephiroth, a few decades older, talked while having a tea.

''NO!''  
"You lost this time," Cloud said in a sharp voice.

''It's impossible.''

''You have the proof right in front of you.''

Sephiroth angrily turned to him. "How did you do it?"

Cloud smiled and bowed to him. "But you deserve all the credit. I have only applied your lessons."

He straightened himself up. "I played the puppet master."

Face to Sephiroth’s misunderstanding, Cloud start to explain.

''At first, I admit, I just tried to stop you from going to Nibelheim. I thought that was enough. But you always managed to do it. Then I tried to stop your conception. It was even worse. We ended up with a monster inspired by Hojo’s worst kinks. And it still didn’t change anything. Afterwards, I tried to prevent the version of myself from entering the SOLDIER. A catastrophe. I tried to be your friend. I didn’t get a better result.''

He sighed, but still smiled.

"I tried combinations, thinking that if I did everything at the same time, I could do it. But nothing worked. I tried to keep an eye on you while preventing the version of me from joining the army and I tried to destroy Jenova. A failure. And Aerith had a brilliant idea. To observe you to understand you. I did it quickly and I tried to influence you. But it didn’t work for very long.''  
''Not very good as a puppet master.''

"It took me a long time. And I ended up following Aerith’s advice. I watched you all your life. Twice. And I realized I had to call upon your humanity.''

"I have no humanity!"

Cloud smiled.

"Oh, yes. It was well hidden, but it was there."

"I have never been human!"

Cloud looked very sad.

''Yes. Much more than the people who hired you. Because once upon a time, you cared about the people you had under your command. You cared about your friends.''

He sighed and looked at him with a faint smile.

''It took me almost a millennium to defeat you. But I finally found out how.''

"How?" Sephiroth asked with a stifled voice.

"I had to make sure that your human side won the battle within you."

"For the third time, Strife, I am not human."

Cloud smiles.

"Of course you are."

''No.''

"Then why did you leave me alive?"

"To inflict the greatest punishment upon you."

"I’ve watched your whole life twice. I know it takes less effort to shoot down an assailant. I didn’t realize it at the time, but most of the time, you were just dodging my shots and giving me some lazy blows to pretend to fight. And at the end of that reality, I understood. Why you never really... _got involved_... in our battles.''

''What are you suggesting?'' Sephiroth laughed. ''That I have a soft spot for you? _Me_?''

But Cloud kept smiling.

"I am the only one you haven't killed because I am the only one standing up to you."

Sephiroth remained silent.

''Or if you like, why do you insist so much on persecuting me? I was only an infantryman when you were General. A random recruit you’ve never even seen. So why take so much pleasure in destroying me?''

Cloud looked at him, and all smiles disappeared.

"I am slow, I agree. But I finally understood. The first time, after Zack confronted you, it was my turn. I was a newbie without experience, without a drop of Mako in me, but I still beat you. And when you came back, I was still there. Stronger. More resistant. And the only one who was at your level.''

''You are forgetting something in your reasoning, Cloud'' Sephiroth remarked. ''According to you, if I kept you, it is because you keep the distance with me. But it would never have been the case if you had not been modified. Which means you’re no longer human, either.''

To his surprise, Cloud laughed.

"Oh, I know. That’s a hint I got a long time ago."

Sephiroth frowned.

"Why are you laughing? You, who cherish the Planet more than anything, should you not be horrified by this?"

Cloud sighed.

"After more than nine hundred years, I had time to digest this idea. And I especially got to know you."

"You spied on me, so what?'' Sephiroth spit out. ''Do you think that will be enough to stop me?"

"It worked well this time. And I finally discovered your weakness."

"I have no weakness" Sephiroth grumbled. "Hojo made sure of that."

''No. This guy never really understood humans. And your... _Design flaw_... Didn’t come from your war machine side.''

"Then what is it?" Sephiroth laughed.

"You don’t want to be alone."

"This is ridiculous..."

''No. That’s the truth. Or why did you get close to Angeal and Genesis at the time? Or Zack afterwards? And why didn’t you just kill me when I was threatening your plans to conquer the cosmos?''

''Because without you, I’d be alone?'' joked Sephiroth. ''That’s ridiculous.''

But Cloud was smiling.

"You hate loneliness. You've always hated it. From the labs where you were born to your plan for the end of the world. And the world you built after that. You hate being alone.''

There was a long silence and Cloud watched Sephiroth fight with himself. Then he spoke.

"That is stupid."

But there was no more rage in Sephiroth's voice. He seemed like he had no more energy left. He looked at the dying sun.

''I guess it doesn’t matter anyway...''

"No, not anymore."

Sephiroth looked his new version of him, drinking tea with his best friend.

"He seems happy."

"He is" Cloud replied, smiling. "They both are."

"I imagine it must be pleasant" Sephiroth murmured in a gentle voice. "To be happy."

''I imagine'' Cloud replied in the same tone.

Sephiroth looked at him. "What’s going to happen to us now?"

''We are going to die. We have no reason to exist now.''

"You will certainly go back to the Lifestream, with all the others. But me? What will happen to me?"

"I am not going back to the Lifestream" Cloud said in a gentle voice.

''Why?''

"As you said, I’m not very human anymore. And I don’t know what will happen to us."

Sephiroth smiled faintly.

"I am sorry."

''Why?''

"Because of me, you will remain alone in nothingness." He breathed. "I wouldn’t wish that for my worst enemy."

Cloud poked his shoulder.

"We’ll be together. We'll be all right."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. ''Where does this optimism come from?''

"Aerith probably contaminated me."

Sephiroth laughed. They both watched the dying sun.

"You could go back to the Lifestream, if you wanted," Sephiroth said. "I am sure it would agree."

"Oh, she’s already asked me."

"Then why do you want to stay with me?"

"I don’t want to leave you alone."

''Becoming sentimental Strife?''

"Perhaps. I became very attached to the little boy who dreamed he would one day become a dinosaur."

Sephiroth smiled.

"Thank God my twisted fans never knew."

Cloud laughed softly. After a long silence, Sephiroth spoke.

''Thank you.''

''Why?''  
''To have intervened. To have played the puppet master. To have beaten me. And to have made a version of me entitled to happiness'' he sighed and resumed gently. "And thank you for not leaving me alone."

Cloud smiled.

''You’re welcome.''

Together, like old friends, they watched the sun die.


End file.
